Boston Public Radio Podcast

Today on Boston Public Radio:  We started off by opening our lines to talk with listeners about your thoughts ahead of Tuesday’s debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump.  NBC Sports Boston reporter and anchor Trenni Kusnierek weighed in on the Patriots' Sunday win against the Oakland Raiders, dropped prostitution charges against Patriots owner Robert Kraft, the lousy 2020 season for the Red Sox.  Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo discussed how she’s handling the COVID-19 pandemic in her state, from high capacity testing in schools to a robust state-funded jobs program. She also touched on President Trump’s efforts to dismantle the U.S.P.S, and why she’s anxious about Tuesday's night presidential debate.   TV guru Bob Thompson talked about his excitement around season four of FX’s “Fargo," and reviewed “Ratched” on Netflix and “The Comey Rule” on Showtime. Immigration authority Ali Noorani discussed how a Supreme Court with Judge Amy Coney Barrett might fall on future immigration issues, differences in political ideologies within the Latinx community, and allegations of cruel and unethical medical procedures taking place at an ICE detention facility CNN’s John King weighed in on Sunday night’s New York Times report detailing President Trump’s tax returns. He also discussed what people should expect from Tuesday night's president debate, and other major political headlines. We reopened lines to continue the conversation with listeners about Tuesday’s presidential debate. 

Today on Boston Public Radio:  We opened lines to talk with listeners about Monday’s New York Times report revealing information about President Trump’s long-withheld tax returns.  Suffolk University law expert Renee Landers discussed what could happen to the Affordable Care Act if Amy Coney Barrett is confirmed to the Supreme Court, and other questions circling the Supreme Court nominee. Landers is a Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the Health and Biomedical Law Concentration at Suffolk University School of Law. Charlie Sennott broke down the latest international headlines around coronavirus, a recent report from the CIA on continuing Russian interference in the 2020 election, and ongoing pro-democracy protests in Belarus. Sennott is a GBH News analyst and CEO of the GroundTruth Project. Republican Julie Hall, who’s currently running to represent Mass.' 4th Congressional District, called in to discuss her campaign and why she believes voters should pick her over Democratic candidate Jake Auchincloss. Hall is a retired Air Force Colonel and former Attleboro City Councilor. Reverends Irene Monroe and Emmett G. Price III, hosts of the podcast “All Rev’d Up,” weighed in on the religious influence of Supreme Court judicial nominee Amy Coney Barrett, and new polling finding that support for racial injustice protests is declining.  We opened lines to talk with listeners about your shopping habits, and whether you’re finding yourself on Amazon more during the pandemic.  Inaugural Richard Blanco shared some poems by Naomi Shihab Nye, to help keep us grounded during this time of unrest.   

The Supreme Court is set to hear a challenge to the Affordable Care Act a week after the election. Health law expert Renée Landers told Boston Public Radio on Monday Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court Amy Coney Barrett may undercut Obamacare if she’s on the bench. “The serious question is whether she will view the decision she criticized in (a court opinion upholding the Affordable Care Act) as a precedent that should be honored and respected,” said Landers, “or whether she thinks there are overriding principals like her different view of the text that should cause the court to revisit the case’s precedent and overturn the statute.” Landers is Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the Health  and Biomedical Law Concentration at Suffolk University School of Law.

Last week, Bishop Michael Curry spoke on Boston Public Radio about the righteousness of love, and the value it can bring us in life’s more worrisome periods.  "'You know when you used to go to the cemetery, and you’d see the date [and] name of whoever died, and then you'd see the date of their birth… you’ll see that there’s a little dash between the date of their birth and the date of their death,” he said, recalling an old sermon he’d hear as a boy.  "Nobody has any control over when you were born, and most of us don’t have any control over when we die. What you have control over is the little dash.” Michael Curry is the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, and author of “Love is the Way: Holding onto Hope in Troubling Times." 

Today on Boston Public Radio: Journalist Barton Gellman talked about the growing likelihood that President Trump will work to skew election results in his favor, in a conversation about his recent Atlantic piece, “The Election That Could Break America." We opened lines to talk with listeners about your thoughts on the possibility of a contested November election.  Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy discussed America’s longstanding relationship with guns and gun violence, in a conversation about his new book, “The Violence Inside Us.” Beat the Press host Emily Rooney weighed in on the possibility that President Trump will question November's election results, discussed news around Patriots owner Robert Kraft’s prostitution charges, and read her famous weekly list of fixations and fulminations.  Media maven Sue O’Connell discussed Friday charges brought by Mass. AG Maura Healey against officials at the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home, and the impact that a strongly conservative Supreme Court might have on the future of LGBTQ rights in America.  Under the Radar host Callie Crossley discussed fallout from this week's decision by a Louisville grand jury not to indict three officers in the shooting of Breonna Taylor, and news that former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg is raising million of dollars to pay fees that would allow former felons to vote.  We opened lines to talk with listeners about the bizarre “flights to nowhere” being offered by airlines looking to draw revenue during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Today on Boston Public Radio: Suffolk County DA Rachel Rollins weighed in on Wednesday's ruling on the Louisville, Ky. Police officers involved in the killing Breonna Taylor, and responded to a range of listener calls as part of our monthly “Ask the DA” series. NBC “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd recapped the latest political headlines around the 2020 presidential race.  Former Suffolk County Sheriff and Secretary of Public Safety Andrea Cabral discussed Wednesday’s ruling by a Louisville grand jury on the officers involved in Breonna Taylor’s death, and her frustrations with the U.S. justice system for failing to implement systems for police accountability. Former Mass. Education Secretary Paul Reville talked about the latest headlines around how Mass. schools and universities are navigating the pandemic school year, and weighed in on the education leadership of Gov. Charlie Baker.   We opened lines to talk with listeners about President Trump’s recent statements, pushing back on the notion of a peaceful transition of power if he loses in November. Michael Curry, Presiding Bishop and Primate of The Episcopal Church, preached the power of love during a discussion about his latest book, "Love is the Way: Holding on to Hope in Troubling Times.”

Paul Reville, former Massachusetts education secretary, spoke with Boston Public Radio on Thursday about how Massachusetts schools, both K-12 and higher ed, are handling reopening during the pandemic. “Many people are predicting we’re going to have a resurgence of this virus, and it’s going to push everybody back to being exclusively online, in due course,” he said. “We’ll see, I hope not, but we’re dealing with moving conditions here.” The Baker administration has been focusing on how to serve students who are disadvantaged with online learning, Reville noted. “They’re looking at remedying the real equity issue of certain categories of students who are not being well served online, because they don’t have the devices or support at home,” he said. “I think it’s quite possible for districts to begin moving in the direction of providing some services to some children - particularly those most at risk of greater gaps developing in this crisis - and then move over time and see how the numbers go.” Reville is a professor at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education, where he also runs the Education Redesign Lab. His latest book, co-authored with Elaine Weiss, is "Broader, Bolder, Better: How Schools and Communities Help Students Overcome the Disadvantages of Poverty."

Today on Boston Public Radio: MIT economist and Affordable Care Act architect Jon Gruber weighed the possibility that a Supreme Court without Ruth Bader Ginsburg might overturn the ACA, and the widespread ramifications that would play out if that were to happen.  We opened lines to hear your thoughts and concerns about the future of the Affordable Care Act.  CNN analyst Juliette Kayyem discussed the U.S. passing 200,000 COVID-19 deaths, and the media’s shortcomings in covering the tragedy of the ongoing pandemic.  EJ Dionne, Washington Post columnist and senior fellow at The Brookings Institution, talked about his new book, “Code Red: How Progressives and Moderates Can Unite to Save Our Country.” Reverends Irene Monroe and Emmett Price, hosts of WGBH’s All Rev’d Up, discussed the legacy of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and controversy within the Catholic community over an award presented to AG Bill Barr.  We opened lines to talk with listeners about how the coronavirus pandemic has changed your day-to-day life, six months in.  Medical ethicist Art Caplan reflected on the U.S. passing 200,000 COVID-19 deaths, President Trump raising doubts about the final wish of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and the latest headlines around the U.S.’ development of a coronavirus vaccine. 

Medical ethicist Art Caplan joined Boston Public Radio on Thursday, where he lambasted the Trump administration’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which he called “the single most important issue of his presidency."  Caplan noted that while the U.S. makes up only four percent of the world’s population, it accounts for a fifth of all global COVID-19 deaths.  “That’s inexcusable,” he said, placing responsibility on the president and his administration for "not managing to keep our death rate down.” "We have no federal policy – he left it up to the states, which allowed the virus to find a home in certain parts of the country, and kick back. So it really has been abysmal leadership.” Caplan is the Drs. William F and Virginia Connolly Mitty Chair, and director of the Division of Medical Ethics at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine.

Over 200,000 Americans have now died from COVID-19, homeland security expert Juliette Kayyem told Boston Public Radio on Wednesday. “And we suspect that this is an undercount, because maybe some people are not being counted for dying of COVID, or they had an underlying condition which catches them first,” she said. “There’s excess deaths everywhere we look, so the 200,000 number, I think, at the minimum is shocking, outrageous, inexcusable enough, but it’s probably not the right number.” Kayyem is an analyst for CNN, former assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security and faculty chair of the homeland security program at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.